Largely peaceful protests are marred by outbreaks of violence as unions claim 3.5 million turned out, while authorities put number at just over 1 million

Emmanuel Macron felt the full force of French anger on Thursday as protesters gathered across the country to demonstrate their opposition to the pension age being raised from 62 to 64.

Unions claimed 3.5 million people turned out across the country, while the authorities suggested the figure was much lower, at just under 1.1 million.

Former PM should refuse to accept outcome if privileges committee rules he knowingly misled MPs, say supporters

Boris Johnson should refuse to accept the outcome of the privileges committee investigation if it concludes that he intentionally misled the Commons over the Partygate scandal, his allies have said.

Some of the former prime ministeras supporters believe he should reject the cross-party groupas findings if they decide, based on written evidence and a fractious three-and-a-half-hour evidence session on Wednesday, that he broke strict parliamentary rules.

It was a night when a Harry Kane penalty conversion positively overflowed with narrative drama. It was his first attempt for England since his notorious miss in the World Cup quarter-final exit against France last December and so goodness knows what was going through his mind as he shaped to take it, after the VAR had spotted a Giovanni Di Lorenzo handball on a corner.

When he scored it took him clear of Wayne Rooney as Englandas all-time leading scorer with 54 goals. What a moment it was for the captain. It put England 2-0 up and to describe them as rampant at that point late in the first half would have been no exaggeration.

Poor internet and logistical problems frustrate hearing into killing of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert

Activists and lawyers representing the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have voiced frustration and anger after the preliminary court hearings of three of their alleged murderers had to be suspended because of poor internet and logistical problems at the high-security prisons where the defendants are being held.

Three of the suspected killers of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous specialist were scheduled to give evidence from behind bars this week during partly online hearings that are expected to pave the way for a jury trial, possibly in the second half of this year.

Exclusive: Investigation finds huge sums of taxpayersa money spent on poor quality private homes

aHow would you like to be in this dumpa: familiesa horror at privately run UK care homes

Taxpayers have spent close to half a billion pounds buying beds in the worst care homes in England in the last four years, driving profits for private investors while residents suffer unsafe treatment, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

In what one affected family branded aa robbery of taxpayersa moneya and Labour said was ascandalousa, about APS480m is estimated to have been spent on ainadequatea care homes a many rated unsafe and in special measures, meaning they are threatened with closure. They are often staffed by untrained agency workers, ignore residentsa needs and fail to provide proper nutrition and medicines in dirty and dangerous properties.

Liverpool city council paid APS1.5m for places at an ainadequatea home where stains encrusted furniture, walls and floors, fire doors were defective and addictive controlled drugs were not signed out properly. Care Quality Commission inspectors found it was anot safea with asignificant staff shortagesa.

Derbyshire county council spent APS1m with a home where assaults were not investigated, doses of medicines were missed and there were not enough trained staff, the CQC found.

A care home where undertrained care workers were seen yanking people out of their seats by their waistbands, one resident was afrightened to look at staffa and care was ahumiliatinga received APS1.3m from Portsmouth city council.

aJudgment about how best to continuea with motoring show will come after health and safety review

The BBC has said it will not resume filming the latest series of Top Gear after co-presenter former England cricket captain Andrew aFreddiea Flintoff was injured in a crash last year.

The broadcaster said there will be a health and safety review on the motoring show, which has been running in its current iteration for 21 years.

Pedro SA!nchez says he will tell Chinese leader it must be Ukrainians who alay down conditionsa for any peace agreement

Spainas prime minister, Pedro SA!nchez, will visit China next week to meet President Xi Jinping, where he is expected to stress that it will be up to Ukraine to decide on the foundations of any peace agreement with Russia.

News of SA!nchezas visit emerged on Wednesday evening, as Xi a who is trying to position himself as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine a wrapped up a symbolic, two-day trip to Moscow.

Artem Uss broke electronic tag and went on run a day after court agreed to hand him over to US authorities

A Russian national accused of smuggling military technology has escaped house arrest a day after an Italian court agreed to hand him over to US authorities.

Italian authorities said Artem Uss, who was detained at Milanas Malpensa airport on an international arrest warrant last October, broke his court-ordered electronic bracelet and left his house in Cascina Vione di Basiglio in the province of Milan.

Kane Te Tai fought with the International Legion and was known for documenting battles and daily life in Ukraine on social media

A former New Zealand soldier who drew an online following with his dispatches from the frontline of the Ukraine war has been killed in fighting there.

The death of Kane Te Tai, 38, was confirmed by New Zealandas foreign ministry Thursday, citing Ukrainian government sources.

The godfather of virtual reality has worked beside the webas visionaries and power-brokers a but likes nothing more than to show the flaws of technology. He discusses how we can make AI work for us, how the internet takes away choice a and why he would ban TikTok

Jaron Lanier, the godfather of virtual reality and the sage of all things web, is nicknamed the Dismal Optimist. And there has never been a time weave needed his dismal optimism more. Itas hard to read an article or listen to a podcast these days without doomsayers telling us weave pushed our luck with artificial intelligence, our hubris is coming back to haunt us and robots are taking over the world. There are stories of chatbots becoming best friends, declaring their love, trying to disrupt stable marriages, and threatening chaos on a global scale.

Is AI really capable of outsmarting us and taking over the world? aOK! Well, your question makes no sense,a Lanier says in his gentle sing-song voice. aYouave just used the set of terms that to me are fictions. Iam sorry to respond that way, but itas ridiculous a| itas unreal.a This is the stuff of sci-fi movies such as The Matrix and Terminator, he says.

Her final first ministeras questions was a sad moment for the outgoing SNP leader but was business as usual for the Scottish Tories

Some rage against the dying of the light. Boris Johnson is howling into the wind. Crying out for meaning, begging for attention. Anything but be forgotten. But his time is up. All that remains for him is life as another old curiosity on the after-dinner speaking circuit. A job he hates almost as much as he hates himself for doing it. He despises the people a the little people a to whom he is obliged to talk. Most of whom only listen with one ear open at best. He is the amuse-bouche entertainer who has backed himself into a narcissistic cul-de-sac.

Others, though, leave the political stage at a time of their own choosing. On their own terms. Just over a month ago, Nicola Sturgeon surprised even her closest allies by announcing she was standing down as leader of the SNP. Some bits of her resignation statement didnat quite make sense. She claimed her party was in good health and never nearer to achieving independence. In which case why walk away now? But the other, more personal stuff, felt real. She had had enough. Her entire adult life devoted to frontline politics. She just wasnat feeling it so much any more. She wanted more Nicola time.

Operators are pocketing large sums from councils while relatives speak of shocking conditions

After watching his girlfriend suffer in a dementia home so poor that it faced possible closure, Donald Hedges reached a simple conclusion: aItas a robbery of taxpayersa money.a

As it does for about a quarter of a million others in England, the state paid for Lilian Williamsa care. She lived in the privately owned Forest Edge care home in Southampton.

This documentary showcases Taiwanese citizens paying to train at private military camps, national service surging and the island stockpiling weapons. Will China really spark war?

The knife-maker of Kinmen island, Wu Tseng-dong, has an unusual business model. When he was a boy, in the 1950s, he witnessed explosive shells a launched from the Chinese mainland two miles away a falling on his birthplace. As he explains: a479,000 rounds were fired in 44 days. We lived in fear.a Little did Wu Tseng-dong know then, but the Peopleas Liberation Army was supplying him with the raw material for his future livelihood: today he makes knives from those shells to sell to tourists from the mainland.

Reporter Jane Corbinas gripping analysis of rising tensions between the Peopleas Republic of China (capital: Beijing; leader: Xi Jinping; population: 1.4 billion) and the Republic of China (capital: Taipei; current leader: Tsai Ing-wen; population: 23 million) examines the possibility of history not just repeating itself, but of tensions escalating so far as to cause the return to geopolitical discourse of that quaint old term, nuclear Armageddon. In this scenario, Beijing bombards not just the little island of Kinmen (slightly bigger than Bute), but Taiwan itself (roughly the size of Switzerland), in order to reunify China. But it thereby embroils the US, provoking a worldwide conflict that would, so far as I understand it, depress global economic growth predictions even more than the coronavirus pandemic.

The mysterious reactivation of the long-moribund brandas site, accompanied by a cryptic message, has fans asking if a mighty return is on the cards

A few days ago, something strange happened in a forgotten corner of the internet. The website for Blockbuster, the long-dormant obsolete VHS rental chain, twitched back into life. It doesnat always work a thereas more than a fighting chance that youall be taken to an error page a but if the winds are blowing in just the right direction, youall see a brand new landing page, accompanied by the text aWe are working on rewinding your moviea. To all intents and purposes, it seems to be a sign that the universe isnat quite done with Blockbuster yet.

Which is fairly preposterous, of course, because the universe is absolutely done with Blockbuster and has been for some time. A world-conquering behemoth in its day, a juggernaut that crushed the necks of smaller independent video stores, Blockbuster took over the world in the 90s and early 2000s. But its glory was short-lived. Netflix came, first in its DVD-by-post guise and then as an unstoppable streamer, and custom disintegrated overnight. If Blockbuster exists in any form now itas as a punchline, a reference to anything too bloated and arrogant to notice the looming shadow of imminent catastrophe. Which raises the question: what is this new website, exactly?

A week that began with a bang fizzled out as grand jury unlikely to deliver verdict in hush money payment case until next week

Over the weekend Donald Trump set off an international maelstrom of media attention when he announced he would be aarrested on Tuesdaya.

Like so many of Trumpas certain proclamations, it proved to be throughly wrong, and the grand jury weighing whether to charge Trump over payments to an adult film star is now unlikely to deliver its verdict until next week.

While these drugs do carry a greater breast cancer risk, those chances are very small for people under 40

Any type of hormonal contraceptive may increase the risk of breast cancer, research from the University of Oxford has suggested.

Although experts have stressed that this should not discourage people from taking the pill, the findings have prompted questions. How concerned should people be?

The writer, actor and legendary punk musician answers your questions on working with William Shatner and Al Pacino, the joy of lifting weights and Leedsa best onion bhajis

As a music obsessive, why have you stepped back from making it? The GingerNinja
I stopped processing ideas in terms of lyrics. One day, I woke up and thought: aIam done.a My manager flipped out, but Iave never looked back. I didnat want to become a human jukebox playing old songs, so I filled the space the band took with films and TV and now my shows, my radio show and writing. At this point, I wouldnat go back on stage with a band for anything.

Jingle Bells with William Shatner is a fantastic song. Are there any future music collaborations on the horizon? Shivermetimbersnow
Bill called and said: aHenry, I really want you to be on this song with me.a I said: aBill, for you, anything.a Wead done a song before. Heas just fun to work with. It was the same with the Flaming Lips in 2009. Theyare people I know, but, generally, Iave hung up my shield and sword.

Now academics on the left have joined the anti-lockdown chorus. Yet their Covid theories rely on a travesty of the facts

Was the pain worth it? Between March 2020 and March 2021, the UK had three national lockdowns. The goal was to control the spread of Covid-19. Essential businesses were closed, as were schools and universities, and astay at homea orders meant families and friends were often kept apart. At the time, the government was unenthusiastic about lockdown and many Tories opposed it. Lord Sumption, for example, insisted that if it werenat for lockdown, people could have aa perfectly normal life.a

Now a new chorus of lockdown sceptics includes people who position themselves on the left, such as the historian Toby Green and his colleague Thomas Fazi. They have joined the ranks of the Tory right in saying that the public, which strongly supported lockdown and even wanted to go further and faster than the government did, were misled by an apocalyptic campaign by medical professionals overstating the benefits and understating the costs of lockdown.

Richard Seymour is a political activist and author; his latest book is The Twittering Machine

Diehards remain, but most just donat want a byelection that would propel the disgraced former PM back into the limelight

The four hours of evidence from Boris Johnson before the Commons privileges committee over Partygate held little in the way of surprises. With much of the witness testimony published in advance, there was no new smoking gun. Instead, there were plenty of tetchy exchanges as Johnson butted heads with the seven-strong committee of MPs. At times, it felt as though they were speaking past each other.

The reaction, too, was broadly as expected. The former prime ministeras detractors have been quick to seize on his comments as evidence of his reckless dishonesty and unsuitability for office. Meanwhile, Johnsonas most enthusiastic supporters offered a rather more optimistic interpretation a heralding the marathon session as a triumph for their man. Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg declared: aBoris is doing very well against the marsupials.a Other core Johnson MP backers joined in a tweeting their confidence that the former leader would be aexonerateda.

All over the country, teachers are talking about the trauma. It is time to ask if this inspection regime really is the right one

When inspectors from Ofsted, Englandas education watchdog, descended on Flora Cooperas Berkshire primary school this week, there was a small but poignant crowd of protesters waiting at the gates.

aI donat know what Iam doing,a the headteacher had tweeted the night before, of her plans to refuse them entry. aBut someone has to.a In the end she let the inspection proceed a obstructing it risks a APS2,500 fine a but her stand felt like a Spartacus moment for teaching nonetheless.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

A health and cost of living crisis is causing real problems that must be addressed. Democracy cannot be hamstrung any longer

Nothing in Boris Johnsonas post-Downing Street antics has been more cynical than his dodging from the privileges committee hearing on Wednesday to vote against Rishi Sunakas Windsor framework. That reform was a hard-won attempt to rescue and reorder Johnsonas own hard-Brexit shambles. The least he could do was say thank you and shut up.

Fleeing to Northern Irelandas extremist wilderness has long appealed to Britainas political rejects. It offered a bunker to FE Smith and Enoch Powell. If Uxbridge now drops Johnson as its MP, Antrim will doubtless make him an offer, from whose cliffs he can rant and conspire against colleagues to his heartas content. But the damage done by Brexit to the vexed politics of Northern Ireland does not end there. As its trade protocol sinks below the horizon, Churchillas adreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyronea are emerging once more in its place.

There are invigorating versions of Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma! and Cabaret in London a and some enticing new dramas coming a yet theatre risks being cut off from its past

David Hare has argued this week that musicals are strangling the growth of straight plays in the West End. I have some sympathy with his point, but it is one that could have been made anytime in the past two decades, during which there has never been less than 25 tune-and-toe shows in the commercial sector. What is curious is Hareas timing, since right now three London theatres traditionally associated with straight plays happen to be housing quite exceptional musicals.

Hare seizes on Oklahoma!as occupation of the beautiful Wyndhamas theatre. Director Daniel Fish, however, has done precisely what the best directors of classic plays have been doing for ages: he gives us a fresh perspective on a familiar work without (well, almost without) altering the text. Instead of the usual gung-ho hymn to rural America, we get a dark, disturbing study of the victimisation of the outsider a in this case Jud Fry a by a small, self-regarding community.

Three years on, amid rising lockdown scepticism, the public wants to move on from the trauma. But this is too important to forget

Three years to the day from when Britain went into formal lockdown, itas worth reflecting on the historical moment we all lived through: a once-in-a-century kind of pandemic that swept the world over. As analysis and inquiries begin to make sense of what we lived through, itas clear that different political factions are attempting to rewrite what happened and why. Some are questioning, driven in part by the Telegraphas lockdown files, whether the Covid-19 pandemic was really that bad. Was the response by government proportionate?

In these debates, thereas a clear survival bias. Those who can ask these questions were affected by restrictions and are likely to have had Covid-19 once, if not several times, and survived. Those who died a an estimated 220,437 people in the UK a donat have a chance to weigh in on whether government intervention was sufficient, or whether their deaths were preventable. More than a million people suffering from long Covid still face scepticism over their condition and an uphill battle to have it recognised and addressed.

Cross-party cooperation is the key to facing down the doubters and delayers

• Sadiq Khan is the Labour mayor of London
• Chris Skidmore is the Conservative MP for Kingswood

There is no greater challenge facing our capital, our country and our world than the climate crisis. The only way we can keep the hope of limiting global heating to 1.5C is if we commit to further and faster action as cities and countries.

Thatas why we must work together wherever possible a across the political divide a to help achieve net zero by cleaning up our rivers and air, insulating our homes, unlocking a revolution in renewable power and ending our toxic reliance on polluting vehicles.

Sadiq Khan is the Labour mayor of London and Chris Skidmore is the Conservative MP for Kingswood

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The international criminal courtas issuance of an arrest warrant for the Russian president over Ukraine is welcome. It needs support

It is entirely likely that Vladimir Putin may never be held fully accountable for his crimes. But the possibility of eventual justice grew somewhat brighter with the international criminal courtas decision last week to issue an arrest warrant for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.

The compelling evidence of the forced transfer of thousands of children for adoption or to are-education campsa is appalling. But this is only one of many horrors that Mr Putin has unleashed on Ukraine. There is growing support for prosecuting him for the invasion itself, which would require the creation of a special tribunal as the crime of aggression is not within the ICCas scope. These calls are made in part because it is usually hard, if not impossible, for war crimes investigators to prove that those at the top sanctioned atrocities on the ground. Mr Putin can, however, be clearly linked to the abductions. Last month, the childrenas rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, indicted alongside the president, appeared on television thanking him for her aadoptiona of a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol. This is the beginning of the case against Mr Putin, not necessarily the end.

The prime ministeras riches raise awkward questions, but the Conservative party has decided Boris Johnson is not the answer to them

The release of details of Rishi Sunakas tax returns on Wednesday reveals several things. The first is that the prime minister and those around him think his tax returns are a public relations embarrassment. Many months after promising to do so, Mr Sunak finally slipped the details into the public realm at the very time when the political world was almost wholly focused on Boris Johnsonas confrontation with the Commons privileges committee. It was a shabby trick.

When he became prime minister, Mr Sunak promised that his government would have aintegrity, professionalism and accountability at every levela. But this was not the act of a leader who is comfortable accounting for his wealth. The release also stopped well short of complete transparency. This very deliberately furtive act was fully in the tradition of the Labour spin doctoras notorious advice on September 11 that the attacks on the Twin Towers had provided aa good day to bury bad newsa.

Readers respond to the former prime ministeras appearance before the privileges committee answering questions about lockdown gatherings in Downing Street during the pandemic

Boris Johnson said it was amy joba to say goodbye to colleagues, that he would have needed an aelectric fencea around him to stick to the rules, and that social distancing only applied awhen possiblea (Boris Johnson facing formal reprimand for misleading parliament, 22 March).

As someone with power of attorney, it was amy joba to represent my friend when he was seriously ill in his nursing home. Normally I would fulfil the obligations of my job by visiting him regularly. This was denied to us during in the pandemic.

Readers respond to an article by an airline crew member on pushy parents wanting special treatment

I read Meryl Loveas piece about pushy parents on flights with the mortifying flush of recognition (As cabin crew, Iave had enough of pushy parents demanding special treatment, 15 March). On various trips since my son was born 16 months ago, I have been that ragged, sleep-deprived father, cramming myself into an easyJet window seat while desperately trying to prevent a wriggling child from slapping the bald head of the kindly man next to us.

Weare not aloiteringa in the galley a our children get bored at their seats and itas a more pleasant flight for everyone (including the crew) if we can keep them entertained, and therefore quiet. Weare carrying way too much luggage because we need to drag around enough stuff to keep the child fed, watered, clean, warm and entertained.

• England captain scores 54th goal to go past Wayne Rooney
• Southgate salutes abrilliant professionala after win in Italy

Harry Kane said his dream had come true after the striker became his countryas record goalscorer and helped England make a flying start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign by winning away to Italy for the first time since 1961.

Kane moved on from the pain of his missed penalty during the World Cup quarter-final defeat to France by scoring the winner from the spot as Southgateas side secured a 2-1 victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

• German giants act swiftly after weekend defeat at Leverkusen
• Former Chelsea manager Tuchel set to take on Manchester City

The former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is in line to take over at Bayern Munich after Julian Nagelsmann was sacked by the Bavarian giants on Thursday night.

Nagelsmann, 35, has lost his job after a poor run of form which culminated in a 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen last Sunday which cost Bayern top spot in the Bundesliga going into the international break.

• Player questioned again in February over new allegation
• Bail was recently extended until July

The Premier League footballer currently on bail amid two allegations of rape is being investigated for a third alleged sexual offence.

It has emerged that the player, whose bail was recently extended until July, was interviewed by the Metropolitan police last month. aIn February 2023, the man was interviewed under caution for a sexual offence alleged to have taken place in Barnet in February 2022,a a statement from the force read. aThis relates to a third victim and was reported to police in July 2022.a An investigation is understood to be ongoing.

• There is a concern Glazers are trying to create leverage for loan
• Elliott Management bid for asmall amount of common equitya

Concerns are growing among some parties involved in the Manchester United sale that the Glazers might have aplayed them for monthsa - and instead of selling the club they would prefer to either push up the price to create leverage for a loan, or offload a minority stake to a hedge fund.

The latest plot twist came on a day where parties were told that the deadline for the second round of bidding would now be 4pm UK time on Friday - having been pushed back from Wednesday night - and US hedge fund Elliott Management confirmed that it had made an offer for United, but only for a asmall amount of common equitya.

Former national captain hopes to earn mandate for reform when 282 clubs and organisations cast ballots on Sunday

It is no exaggeration to say the entire future of Welsh rugby is at stake in Port Talbot this Sunday morning. aYou sense it is a significant moment in our history,a confirms Ieuan Evans, chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and a former national captain, as he awaits the critical vote which will determine if the sport in Wales can step back from the abyss. aWe love a watershed in Wales, we have them every fortnight.a

Evansas slightly dark humour is understandable. There is a good reason why he is spending his 59th birthday talking to the Guardian and it is because the WRU faces a binary choice. Either there is approval for a package of governance reforms that drags it into the 21st century or total disaster looms. Should the WRU not obtain the necessary 75% majority at this weekendas emergency general meeting, the dinosaurs will inherit the earth.

After the first spell of their careers spent apart, the Holmgaards have been reunited and are ready for a Goodison Park showdown with Liverpool

Once the Holmgaard twins step on to a football pitch it becomes relatively easy to tell them apart. While Sara is left-footed and plays in central defence, Karen favours her right foot and anchors midfield but, back in the dressing room, the pairas similarities far outweigh the differences.

Even Evertonas manager, Brian SA,rensen, has been known to confuse one identical twin with the other. aBeing left and right-footed is the biggest difference. Iam maybe a bit quieter but otherwise weare nearly the same,a says Sara before Karen interjects. aI have a higher bun,a she points out, gesturing to her hair. aBut weare just enjoying being here together, itas something special.a

Forward now sits at the top of a golden seam of main men after goal in Naples a and his mark of 54 goals will be difficult to beat

There was an agreeable note of pantomime when the moment came for Harry Kane. Goalscoring records donat matter, perhaps, or shouldnat matter, are just numbers in the book. And yet of course they do matter, not least in international football, with its sense of duty and history and ritual.

And somehow it always seemed likely Kane would get his chance to take that England record in this wonderful mini-epic of a qualifier, with England just about holding on to take a thrilling 2-1 victory.

Report also suggests migration could help ensure UK has necessary skills to meet governmentas 2050 net zero target

New climate visas should be created to allow victims of natural disasters to come to the UK, and to bring in skilled workers needed for the transition to net zero, a Conservative thinktank has argued.

Onward, whose co-founder Will Tanner recently became Rishi Sunakas deputy chief of staff, is urging the government to prepare for the likely increase in global migration as a result of the climate crisis.

Accounts of global impact of floods, droughts and storms at New York meeting add to pressure to make water central to Cop28

Water is at the heart of the climate crisis, with an increasingly dire carousel of droughts, floods and sea level rise felt amaking our planet uninhabitablea the secretary-general of the United Nations, AntA3nio Guterres, has warned.

On the second day of the first UN water conference in almost half a century, countries lined up to describe how they are suffering from water disasters linked to human-made global heating. aWe seem to either have too much water, or too little,a said Senzo Mchunu, South Africaas water minister. aWe will fail on climate change if we fail on water.a

Green party accuses FDP of gambling away countryas reputation after last-minute blocking of phase-out from 2035

A clash over climate protection measures is threatening to unravel Germanyas three-party governing alliance, after the Green party accused its liberal coalition partners of gambling away the countryas reputation by blocking a EU-wide phase-out of internal combustion engines in cars.

aYou canat have a coalition of progress where only one party is in charge of progress and the others try to stop the progress,a the countryas vice-chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, said at a meeting of the Green partyas parliamentary group in Weimar on Tuesday.

Exclusive: People left to aswim in filtha as Defra turns down applications, say Lib Dems

Most applications for bathing water status to clean up rivers and coastal waters in England have been rejected by the government in the last 14 months, according to new data from the Liberal Democrats.

Local groups have been working for months to create bathing water areas, where the Environment Agency is forced to undertake more rigorous testing for faecal bacteria. Grassroots groups are focusing on inland waters in particular, in a push to stop the discharge of raw sewage by water companies and force a clean-up of English rivers, which all fail tests for chemical and biological pollution.

Some intend to defect or stand as independents after aundemocratica deselection of mostly BAME councillors

The Labour party in Leicester has been left reeling after 19 sitting councillors, the majority of them from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, were deselected by the national committee.

About 40% of Labouras councillors in the city have been told they cannot stand in Mayas election, after party figures decided to appoint an NEC board to choose Leicesteras council candidates rather than leave the decision to local members.

Labour leader earned little outside his parliamentary income apart from windfall after sister sold home he helped her buy

Keir Starmer has released his tax returns for the last two years, showing that he earned little outside his parliamentary income except for a windfall when his sister sold the family home that he helped her buy.

The Labour leader released a summary of his past two years of tax payments on Thursday, a day after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, released three years of his.

Two men and two teenage boys remain in custody after Rohan Shand, 16, died on Wednesday

A teenager stabbed to death in Northampton on Wednesday afternoon has been named by police as Rohan Shand.

Rohan, known as Fred by friends and family, died in the Kingsthorpe area of the town after being stabbed in the chest. The 16-year-old was from Northampton.

Kirsty Buchanan says her 15-year-old son, who is black, was buying shampoo in Chichester shop and was held by police until 1.15am

The mother of a black 15-year-old boy detained by civilian security staff while shopping for shampoo in Chichester has said he was thrown to the floor and handcuffed after joking about being followed.

Former Downing Street aide Kirsty Buchanan has called for a national review of the use of private security staff, saying her child had been targeted because of his race, and that the behaviour of the security guards was dangerous.

One-fifth of UK population was in relative poverty after first year of pandemic, when support measures scrapped

Families including 800,000 children were forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves as poverty levels started to rise again after the first year of the pandemic, the first official figures on UK food bank use show.

The statistics came in official poverty data, which revealed that the reduction in relative poverty achieved during the first year of the Covid crisis in 2020-21 was temporary and was reversed after ministers scrapped support measures.

In-work poverty remains high a half (54%) of people in poverty lived in a household where at least one adult was in work, while more than two-thirds of children in poverty (71%) lived in working families.

Child poverty rates were much higher among black (53%) and Asian (47%) families than white families (25%). About 44% of children in single-parent families, and 36% of children living in families where someone has a disability, were in poverty.

Thomas Cashman disputes court testimony about his whereabouts on night of Liverpool girlas shooting

The man accused of murdering nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel has told a court he was in custody afor something I have not donea and called a key witness aa woman scorneda.

Thomas Cashman, 34, insisted he had anothing whatsoevera to do with Oliviaas murder and that it was a ablatant liea to claim he was the killer.

PMas tax bill would have been higher had Tories not cut top capital gains rate

Rishi Sunak has saved more than APS300,000 in tax thanks to a cut he voted for in 2016, according to an analysis of his tax records.

The prime minister has paid just over APS1m in tax over the past three years, most of which was accrued on the gains he has made on his US-based investment portfolio. But that figure would have been APS308,167 higher had the top rate of capital gains tax (CGT) not been cut by the Conservative government in 2016.

UK government not required to state whether Nnamdi Kanu, a British national, was victim of extraordinary rendition, judge rules

The brother of a British national being held in Nigeria after falling victim to extraordinary rendition has said he is disappointed after the high court dismissed his challenge to UK ministersa handling of the case.

Kingsley Kanu, brother of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a prominent separatist movement proscribed in Nigeria, claimed that three foreign secretaries a Liz Truss, Dominic Raab and then James Cleverly a had acted unlawfully by failing to reach a view on whether he had been subjected to extraordinary rendition.

CMA found companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts worth APS150m

Ten construction firms have been fined a combined APS60m by the competition regulator for aillegally colludinga to rig bids for lucrative contracts for projects including Bow Street magistrates court and Selfridges department store.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts that were worth a total of APS150m.

At least 75 people held across country on aday of disruptiona as Knesset approves law designed to protect Netanyahu

Israelas two-month-old protest movement took to the streets for a aday of disruptiona as the parliament passed the first part of the hardline governmentas controversial judicial changes into law.

The legislation, designed to protect the position of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was approved early on Thursday, after a heated all-night debate, by 61 votes to 47 a the minimum majority required.

Likely Republican contender for White House says remark was amischaracteriseda but calls Vladimir Putin a war criminal

Ron DeSantis has reversed his position on Ukraine, after facing widespread criticism for calling the Russian invasion a aterritorial disputea.

Speaking to Fox Nation in an interview to be broadcast in full on Thursday, the Florida governor and probable contender for the Republican presidential nomination said his aterritorial disputea remark had been amischaracteriseda.

Polly Sanderson-Grasham said seeing her fatheras state after the incident was like aa slap in the facea

The daughter of the man who collided with Gwyneth Paltrow on a ski slope, has said seeing her fatheras state after the incident was like aa slap in the facea.

Polly Sanderson-Grasham said that following the crash in 2016, her father was unable to asee the forest for the treesa and got alost in the minutiaea of things.

Animal, which is thought to have broken out of its zoo enclosure, was tranquillised after being on the loose in South Korean capital

A young zebra walked, trotted and galloped for hours through the busy streets of Seoul before emergency workers tranquillised the animal and brought it back to a zoo.

The zebra a a male named Sero who was born in the zoo in 2021 a was in a stable condition and being examined by veterinarians on Thursday evening, said Choi Ye-ra, an official at the Childrenas Grand Park in South Koreaas capital.

With uncollected rubbish lining Paris streets, critics are comparing the optics of the royal arrival to 1789

Striking workers in France are refusing to provide red carpets for King Charlesas first overseas trip as monarch amid protests over rises to the pension age.

French trade union CGT announced this week that its members at Mobilier National, the institution in charge of providing flags, red carpets and furniture for public buildings, would not help prepare a reception for the king upon his arrival in Paris on Sunday.

South Korean CEO of Terraform Labs is accused of multi-billion-dollar fraud involving TerraUSD and Luna currencies

A man suspected of being the fugitive South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon, accused of orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar fraud that shook global crypto markets last year, has been arrested in Montenegro.

aMontenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs,a the interior minister, Filip AdA3/4iA, tweeted late on Thursday.

Shou Zi Chew attempts to play down concerns over data and privacy as lawmakers call for ban on Chinese-owned app

The chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, was forced to defend his companyas relationship with China, as well as the protections for its youngest users, at a testy congressional hearing on Thursday that came amid a bipartisan push to ban the app entirely in the US over national security concerns.

The hearing marked the first ever appearance before US lawmakers by a TikTok chief executive, and a rare public outing for the 4o-year-old Chew, who has remained largely out of the limelight as the social networkas popularity soars. TikTok now boasts tens of millions of US users, but lawmakers have long held concerns over Chinaas control over the app, which Chew repeatedly tried to assuage throughout the hearing. aLet me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,a Chew said in Thursdayas testimony.

• Ruling applies to athletes who have transitioned after puberty
• Levels of permitted plasma testosterone also reduced by half

World Athletics has voted to ban transgender women from elite female competitions if they have undergone male puberty, in a decision the governing body said had been taken to aprotect the future of the female categorya.

Speaking after the ruling, which comes into effect on 31 March, the World Athletics president, Seb Coe, accepted that the decision would be contentious but said his sport had been guided by the aoverarching principlea of fairness, as well as the science around physical performance and male advantage.

Octaviaas Bookshelf promotes Black writers, culture and business in Pasadena, where the famed novelist lived and worked

Books are strewn everywhere and are awaiting their turn to be shuffled into their assigned nooks in tall black shelves. Itas just seven days until the grand opening of Nikki Highas southern California bookstore and despite the frenzy, the independent bookseller is outwardly calm and collected in the chaos, managing self-care and getting a full nine hours of sleep a night.

Sheas been plotting this day for months.

Ohio officers, who conducted a botched raid of rapperas home, are suing for invasion of privacy and emotional distress

Police officers who conducted a botched armed raid of rapper Afromanas home last year have filed a lawsuit against him for invasion of privacy and emotional distress after he used footage of it in his music videos.

Earlier this month, police officers Shawn D Cooley, Justin Cooley, Michael D Estep, Shawn D, Grooms, Brian Newland, Lisa Phillips, and Randolph L Walters, Jr, filed the lawsuit in Adams county, Ohio, against Afroman, alleging that the rapper and others including his record label used the officersa persona for commercial purposes.

Alvin Bragg writes to committee chairs seeking his testimony saying there is ano legitimate basis for congressional inquirya

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, on Thursday accused Republicans in the US Congress of interfering in his investigation of Donald Trump over a hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels.

A letter from House Republicans demanding testimony and documents related to the investigation aonly came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested a| and his lawyers repeatedly urged you to intervenea, Bragg wrote in a letter of his own.

Largely peaceful protests are marred by outbreaks of violence as unions claim 3.5 million turned out, while authorities put number at just over 1 million

Emmanuel Macron felt the full force of French anger on Thursday as protesters gathered across the country to demonstrate their opposition to the pension age being raised from 62 to 64.

Unions claimed 3.5 million people turned out across the country, while the authorities suggested the figure was much lower, at just under 1.1 million.

Poor internet and logistical problems frustrate hearing into killing of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert

Activists and lawyers representing the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have voiced frustration and anger after the preliminary court hearings of three of their alleged murderers had to be suspended because of poor internet and logistical problems at the high-security prisons where the defendants are being held.

Three of the suspected killers of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous specialist were scheduled to give evidence from behind bars this week during partly online hearings that are expected to pave the way for a jury trial, possibly in the second half of this year.

South Korean CEO of Terraform Labs is accused of multi-billion-dollar fraud involving TerraUSD and Luna currencies

A man suspected of being the fugitive South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon, accused of orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar fraud that shook global crypto markets last year, has been arrested in Montenegro.

aMontenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs,a the interior minister, Filip AdA3/4iA, tweeted late on Thursday.

Accounts of global impact of floods, droughts and storms at New York meeting add to pressure to make water central to Cop28

Water is at the heart of the climate crisis, with an increasingly dire carousel of droughts, floods and sea level rise felt amaking our planet uninhabitablea the secretary-general of the United Nations, AntA3nio Guterres, has warned.

On the second day of the first UN water conference in almost half a century, countries lined up to describe how they are suffering from water disasters linked to human-made global heating. aWe seem to either have too much water, or too little,a said Senzo Mchunu, South Africaas water minister. aWe will fail on climate change if we fail on water.a

A week that began with a bang fizzled out as grand jury unlikely to deliver verdict in hush money payment case until next week

Over the weekend Donald Trump set off an international maelstrom of media attention when he announced he would be aarrested on Tuesdaya.

Like so many of Trumpas certain proclamations, it proved to be throughly wrong, and the grand jury weighing whether to charge Trump over payments to an adult film star is now unlikely to deliver its verdict until next week.

Violent funnel with gusts reaching up to 110mph ripped through roofs and scattered debris high into the air

The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed that the violent funnel of swirling winds that ripped through roofs and scattered debris high into the air near downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday was indeed a tornado a and the strongest one the area has seen in more than three decades.

It was the second tornado to touch down in southern California this week in an area unaccustomed to facing that particular kind of extreme weather. aItas definitely not something thatas common for the region,a said NWS meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld, noting that the last time the weather serviceas LA office sent out tornado assessment teams was in 2016.

Messages proving network hosts and executives knew what they were saying was false and arecklessa are now on record forever

As Fox News continued to broadcast lies about Dominion voting systems and the 2020 election, Tucker Carlson, one of its star hosts used one word over and over to describe what the network was doing a arecklessa.

Those messages were the first pieces of evidence Justin Nelson, a lawyer representing Dominion, displayed on Tuesday as he began his argument for why a judge should rule the network defamed his client. aReckless was a meaningful worda a in order to win the case, Nelson has to prove that Fox acted with aactual malicea a that its hosts, producers and executives knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard to the truth.

• Team says wearing jerseys could endanger Russian player
• Pride jerseys have sparked debate among NHL teams

An NHL team with a Russian player has decided against wearing special warmup jerseys to commemorate Pride night, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.

The Chicago Blackhawks, who have an additional two players with connections to Russia, will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sundayas game against Vancouver because of security concerns involving the law, which expands restrictions on supporting LGBTQ rights. Vladimir Putin signed the law in December.

Likely Republican contender for White House says remark was amischaracteriseda but calls Vladimir Putin a war criminal

Ron DeSantis has reversed his position on Ukraine, after facing widespread criticism for calling the Russian invasion a aterritorial disputea.

Speaking to Fox Nation in an interview to be broadcast in full on Thursday, the Florida governor and probable contender for the Republican presidential nomination said his aterritorial disputea remark had been amischaracteriseda.

Pedro SA!nchez says he will tell Chinese leader it must be Ukrainians who alay down conditionsa for any peace agreement

Spainas prime minister, Pedro SA!nchez, will visit China next week to meet President Xi Jinping, where he is expected to stress that it will be up to Ukraine to decide on the foundations of any peace agreement with Russia.

News of SA!nchezas visit emerged on Wednesday evening, as Xi a who is trying to position himself as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine a wrapped up a symbolic, two-day trip to Moscow.

The writer, actor and legendary punk musician answers your questions on working with William Shatner and Al Pacino, the joy of lifting weights and Leedsa best onion bhajis

As a music obsessive, why have you stepped back from making it? The GingerNinja
I stopped processing ideas in terms of lyrics. One day, I woke up and thought: aIam done.a My manager flipped out, but Iave never looked back. I didnat want to become a human jukebox playing old songs, so I filled the space the band took with films and TV and now my shows, my radio show and writing. At this point, I wouldnat go back on stage with a band for anything.

Jingle Bells with William Shatner is a fantastic song. Are there any future music collaborations on the horizon? Shivermetimbersnow
Bill called and said: aHenry, I really want you to be on this song with me.a I said: aBill, for you, anything.a Wead done a song before. Heas just fun to work with. It was the same with the Flaming Lips in 2009. Theyare people I know, but, generally, Iave hung up my shield and sword.

The ex-president is a painter, his VP an avid fly fisher, while Tony Blair has built a property empire. They appear unrepentant

US president who ordered invasion of Iraq has turned to painting

The mysterious reactivation of the long-moribund brandas site, accompanied by a cryptic message, has fans asking if a mighty return is on the cards

A few days ago, something strange happened in a forgotten corner of the internet. The website for Blockbuster, the long-dormant obsolete VHS rental chain, twitched back into life. It doesnat always work a thereas more than a fighting chance that youall be taken to an error page a but if the winds are blowing in just the right direction, youall see a brand new landing page, accompanied by the text aWe are working on rewinding your moviea. To all intents and purposes, it seems to be a sign that the universe isnat quite done with Blockbuster yet.

Which is fairly preposterous, of course, because the universe is absolutely done with Blockbuster and has been for some time. A world-conquering behemoth in its day, a juggernaut that crushed the necks of smaller independent video stores, Blockbuster took over the world in the 90s and early 2000s. But its glory was short-lived. Netflix came, first in its DVD-by-post guise and then as an unstoppable streamer, and custom disintegrated overnight. If Blockbuster exists in any form now itas as a punchline, a reference to anything too bloated and arrogant to notice the looming shadow of imminent catastrophe. Which raises the question: what is this new website, exactly?

Great acting, kills galore and a pacy plot about an FBI agent who spends his days waiting for a hotline to ring. You couldnat ask for more from a spy show

The Night Agent is a political thriller, based on Matthew Quirkas 2012 political thriller of the same name, about a night agent who gets caught up in some political thrills. Whatas a night agent, I hear you ask? Well, in this case, he is an FBI agent called Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), who saves a bunch of ordinary joes from a bomb on a subway train. For some reason, he is put on desk duties in the basement of the White House, doing admin while he waits by a helpline phone that undercover operatives can call to let the powers-that-be know they are in trouble.

But that darn phone never rings. Peter does his admin conscientiously, but you know that in his heart of hearts he would like some thrills a maybe even of a political nature.

The email auto-reply isnat the first time the CEO has embraced the symbol as he works to own the libs

How would Twitter describe its own relationship with the media?

With a poop emoji.

Would the Am I Being Unreasonable actor make a great M? Sure. But not if it means the 007 franchise is turning into Austin Powers

You can have the good news first. At last, the ceaseless pounding drumbeat of speculation over who will play the next James Bond has paused. A semi-official moratorium has fallen over the shrieking clickbait dedicated to wondering aloud whether Aaron Taylor Johnson or Idris Elba or about eight people from Game of Thrones or any actor seen in public in a suit will be chosen to succeed Daniel Craig as James Bond.

Now for the bad news: this has happened because there is now a ceaseless pounding drumbeat of speculation over whether or not Daisy May Cooper from This Country will be the next M. For this week, everyone has suddenly decided that this is a thing, even though it probably isnat.

Forward now sits at the top of a golden seam of main men after goal in Naples a and his mark of 54 goals will be difficult to beat

There was an agreeable note of pantomime when the moment came for Harry Kane. Goalscoring records donat matter, perhaps, or shouldnat matter, are just numbers in the book. And yet of course they do matter, not least in international football, with its sense of duty and history and ritual.

And somehow it always seemed likely Kane would get his chance to take that England record in this wonderful mini-epic of a qualifier, with England just about holding on to take a thrilling 2-1 victory.

Building through free agency is typically seen as unwise, but several teams have addressed weaknesses this month without overpaying

With Aaron Rodgers ready to depart Green Bay, the Lions are in pole position to win the NFC North. They overhauled a shoddy secondary during the early days of free agency, adding CJ Gardner-Johnson, Cameron Sutton, and Emmanuel Moseley.

• Player questioned again in February over new allegation
• Bail was recently extended until July

The Premier League footballer currently on bail amid two allegations of rape is being investigated for a third alleged sexual offence.

It has emerged that the player, whose bail was recently extended until July, was interviewed by the Metropolitan police last month. aIn February 2023, the man was interviewed under caution for a sexual offence alleged to have taken place in Barnet in February 2022,a a statement from the force read. aThis relates to a third victim and was reported to police in July 2022.a An investigation is understood to be ongoing.

• Player was visiting Saints as part of free agency process
• 25-year-old will step away from football to undergo treatment

NFL tight end Foster Moreau posted on Twitter on Wednesday he was diagnosed with Hodgkinas lymphoma during a physical with the New Orleans Saints.

aThrough somewhat of a miraculous process, this Free Agency period has been life changing for me,a Moreau wrote. aDuring a routine physical conducted by the Saints medical team down in New Orleans, Iave come to learn that I have Hodgkinas Lymphoma and will be stepping away from football at this time to fight a new opponent: Cancer. Iam grateful for the support and thankful for the people who have stood firm with me. There hasnat been a single step Iave taken without hundreds of people lighting the path before me and I will continue to seek their guidance.a

Sport gives us an opportunity to see people at the greatest moments of their lives, but also at their sometimes-tragic worst

One of sportas many affirming beauties is its intimacy: we get to see people experience the most ecstatic and most mortifying moments of their lives, live. Yes, theyare seeking fulfilment and validation in the wrong places and yes, this is your super soaraway Joy of Six about to volunteer an unsolicited self-help tip but, immeasurably wise though The Awakened Family is a if youare a parent or a person, read it a how many titles, belts or majors has Dr Shefali Tsabary won? Exactly.

The international criminal courtas issuance of an arrest warrant for the Russian president over Ukraine is welcome. It needs support

It is entirely likely that Vladimir Putin may never be held fully accountable for his crimes. But the possibility of eventual justice grew somewhat brighter with the international criminal courtas decision last week to issue an arrest warrant for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.

The compelling evidence of the forced transfer of thousands of children for adoption or to are-education campsa is appalling. But this is only one of many horrors that Mr Putin has unleashed on Ukraine. There is growing support for prosecuting him for the invasion itself, which would require the creation of a special tribunal as the crime of aggression is not within the ICCas scope. These calls are made in part because it is usually hard, if not impossible, for war crimes investigators to prove that those at the top sanctioned atrocities on the ground. Mr Putin can, however, be clearly linked to the abductions. Last month, the childrenas rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, indicted alongside the president, appeared on television thanking him for her aadoptiona of a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol. This is the beginning of the case against Mr Putin, not necessarily the end.

Unnerved by a looming financial crisis, the US central bank has raised rates. Will Australia follow suit?

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An unsteady global financial sector has ratcheted up pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia ahead of next monthas rate decision.

Facing the worst banking crisis since 2008, as well as record high inflation, the US central bank on Wednesday chose to continue its spree of rate hikes, raising interest rates by 0.25% a an uneasy compromise a but signalled that it may soon pause increases. Earlier in March, the European Central Bank raised its interest rate by 0.50%.

Sign up for Guardian Australiaas free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Diehards remain, but most just donat want a byelection that would propel the disgraced former PM back into the limelight

The four hours of evidence from Boris Johnson before the Commons privileges committee over Partygate held little in the way of surprises. With much of the witness testimony published in advance, there was no new smoking gun. Instead, there were plenty of tetchy exchanges as Johnson butted heads with the seven-strong committee of MPs. At times, it felt as though they were speaking past each other.

The reaction, too, was broadly as expected. The former prime ministeras detractors have been quick to seize on his comments as evidence of his reckless dishonesty and unsuitability for office. Meanwhile, Johnsonas most enthusiastic supporters offered a rather more optimistic interpretation a heralding the marathon session as a triumph for their man. Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg declared: aBoris is doing very well against the marsupials.a Other core Johnson MP backers joined in a tweeting their confidence that the former leader would be aexonerateda.

Her final first ministeras questions was a sad moment for the outgoing SNP leader but was business as usual for the Scottish Tories

Some rage against the dying of the light. Boris Johnson is howling into the wind. Crying out for meaning, begging for attention. Anything but be forgotten. But his time is up. All that remains for him is life as another old curiosity on the after-dinner speaking circuit. A job he hates almost as much as he hates himself for doing it. He despises the people a the little people a to whom he is obliged to talk. Most of whom only listen with one ear open at best. He is the amuse-bouche entertainer who has backed himself into a narcissistic cul-de-sac.

Others, though, leave the political stage at a time of their own choosing. On their own terms. Just over a month ago, Nicola Sturgeon surprised even her closest allies by announcing she was standing down as leader of the SNP. Some bits of her resignation statement didnat quite make sense. She claimed her party was in good health and never nearer to achieving independence. In which case why walk away now? But the other, more personal stuff, felt real. She had had enough. Her entire adult life devoted to frontline politics. She just wasnat feeling it so much any more. She wanted more Nicola time.

Recent deaths linked to drugs made in India underline the need for a global framework for quality control and swift cross-border action when things go wrong

In the last six months, there have been four global alerts from the World Health Organization (WHO) for aMade in Indiaa medicine where patients have either died, been blinded or suffered adverse incidents.

Two alerts, one in October and the other in January, were for adulterated cough syrups manufactured by two different Indian companies. These syrups are suspected to have caused the deaths of up to 71 children in the Gambia and 18 children in Uzbekistan. A third alert, in December, involved a cancer drug sold in Yemen and Lebanon which was found to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria. The fourth alert, in February, was for eyedrops sold in 55 countries that the WHO recommend be removed from circulation due to quality issues.

There are invigorating versions of Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma! and Cabaret in London a and some enticing new dramas coming a yet theatre risks being cut off from its past

David Hare has argued this week that musicals are strangling the growth of straight plays in the West End. I have some sympathy with his point, but it is one that could have been made anytime in the past two decades, during which there has never been less than 25 tune-and-toe shows in the commercial sector. What is curious is Hareas timing, since right now three London theatres traditionally associated with straight plays happen to be housing quite exceptional musicals.

Hare seizes on Oklahoma!as occupation of the beautiful Wyndhamas theatre. Director Daniel Fish, however, has done precisely what the best directors of classic plays have been doing for ages: he gives us a fresh perspective on a familiar work without (well, almost without) altering the text. Instead of the usual gung-ho hymn to rural America, we get a dark, disturbing study of the victimisation of the outsider a in this case Jud Fry a by a small, self-regarding community.

Watchdog finds PFBS toxicity value was altered in 2021 report, as scientists say episode part of alarger rot at the agencya

Trump administration appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) meddled in agency science to weaken the toxicity assessment of a dangerous chemical, a new report by the US bodyas internal watchdog has found.

In response to what it labeled apolitical interferencea, the Biden administration in February 2021 pulled the assessment, republished it months later using what it said is sound science, and declared it had resolved the issue.

With the domestic market in long-term decline, whalers and restaurants are working with the Japan travel bureau in a bid to win over skeptical visitors

The anticipation is building in the private, tatami-mat room at Murasaki, a restaurant in Osaka. At one end sit a handful of Japanese journalists; on the other, executives from the countryas biggest whaling company and officials from the travel industry.

In the middle, six hand-picked social influencers from Thailand, France, Russia and South Korea take their places around a hori-zataku table and wait for the first of several courses devoted to Japanas most controversial cuisine: whale meat.

Shipping produces much of the worldas greenhouse gases but new technology offers solutions to cut fuel use

Cars, trucks and planes get plenty of blame for helping drive the climate crisis, but shipping produces a large portion of the worldas greenhouse gases, as well as nitrogen oxides and sulphur pollution because ships largely use cheap heavy fuel oil.

Itas been a struggle to clean up the shipping industry but one solution is to use wind-powered ships. That may seem like going back to the days of the Cutty Sark, but new hi-tech wind-propulsion can be fitted to existing ships to cut fuel use, supplying between 10% and 90% of a shipas power needs, depending on where on the ocean they are and which weather patterns they harness. Wind is free, blows harder at sea than on land and weather-routing software uses sophisticated algorithms to plot the fastest and most fuel-efficient voyage.

The story of a Ukrainian woman who escaped modern slavery in the UK. Annie Kelly reports

Julia remembers the moment when a lorry driver pointed at a compartment behind his seat and told her to get in.

aHe starts screaming at me aquickly go herea and he looks at me and I remember I didnat know what to think,a Julia tells journalist Annie Kelly, editor of the Rights and Freedom project.

With the rise of AI-led services to write, voice and provide effects, industry experts express concern over the future

What will AI (artificial intelligence) do to Hollywood? Who better to answer that question than ChatGPT, a thrilling but scary chatbot developed by OpenAI. When the Guardian asked it about AIas potential impact on the film industry, it made the following points:

Scriptwriting: AI can be used to analyze existing screenplays and create new ones, potentially leading to more efficient and cost-effective screenwriting.

Pre-production: AI can be used to streamline the pre-production process, including casting, location scouting and storyboarding.

Special effects: AI can be used to create more realistic and immersive special effects, potentially reducing the need for practical effects and saving time and money in post-production.

Audience analysis: AI can be used to analyze audience data and preferences, helping studios make more informed decisions about which films to greenlight and how to market them.

Distribution: AI can be used to personalize movie recommendations for viewers and optimize distribution strategies, potentially leading to higher ticket sales and revenue.

Actor in talks to take on role made famous by James Stewart in remake written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight

A remake of Alfred Hitchcockas 1958 thriller Vertigo is in the works with Robert Downey Jr aeyeinga the lead role.

According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures has given the film the go-ahead with the Iron Man star producing and potentially taking on the role of the obsessive detective made famous by James Stewart.

Late-night hosts discuss Trumpas potential indictment in the Stormy Daniels case and other criminal investigations he faces

Jimmy Kimmel lamented another day without the expected indictment of Donald Trump, or as he put it: aday two of awhen are they going to arrest him already?aa Though Trump himself boasted that head be arrested for campaign finance violations in New York this Tuesday, some experts now predict he will be arrested next week. If it happened over the weekend, Kimmel said head arun into the studio and do a monologue in my bathrooma.

A tense, state-of-the-nation drama set in Covid-era India successfully exposes how the caste system underpins much of the countryas division and strife

aNo one ever plans for the poor,a says a young police officer in this tense, painful pandemic drama from India. Shot in black and white, itas set at the start of the government-imposed lockdown in May 2020 that led to the exodus of 10 million migrant workers from Indiaas cities. The police officer has been put in charge of a rural roadblock to stop poor workers returning to their families and villages a preventing the spread of the virus. But realising that no help is arriving, the crowd, feeling hungry and abandoned, get angry. The results are explosive, exposing the fault lines of caste prejudice and class conflict.

The officer Surya (Rajkummar Rao), is himself from a lower-caste family, but heas climbing the ladder; he is a competent, decent cop who refuses kickbacks or bribes (just what a modern police force needs). Still, his boss never lets him forget his place, and we see how Surya has internalised prejudice too. All of society turns up at his checkpoint. A rich upper-caste woman (Dia Mirza) waltzes over accompanied by her driver, fully expecting to sail through. A young woman who worked as a maid in the city risks her life to get her alcoholic father home to their village. Thereas an elderly security guard travelling on a bus; then a film crew arrives from a TV news channel.

The Austrian auteur has made his name with disturbing and superb studies of the violence and repression of bourgeois life. As he turns 81, we rate his finest films

An early, and relatively minor, Haneke showing 71 afragmentsa a or glimpses of apparently unrelated scenes and people a set in present-day Vienna. These involve a security guard, a troubled young man, a depressed retiree and a Romanian illegal immigrant. So whatas tying them all together? The answer is partially given at the beginning and fully at the end, and the movie gives us Hanekeas keynote themes: the nature of violence, urban alienation, the abolition of compassion and community in capitalism and western hypocrisy in primly looking away from injustice and desolation in other parts of the world. But the backstory twist ending a similar to the one Krzysztof KieAlowski in effect gave us the same year in Three Colours Red a is a bit pat.

With cash-strapped fans eager for epic setlists, Swift isnat the only artist doing extra-long gigs a but performers and fans alike will need to toughen up

Get ready to double the babysitteras shift: pop concerts are getting longer. Taylor Swiftas current Eras tour of the US finds the American superstar singing and playing for more than three hours every night, but sheas not the only one: veteran British goth giants the Cure, already fond of long gigs, performed 88 songs over three nights at Wembley Arena last December, averaging just under three hours every show. Other acts putting in unusually long stints on stage lately include K-pop stars Ateez (two and a half hours) and Aussie psych-rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, who will play a three-hour marathon at Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl in June.

Lengthy shows arenat new. The Grateful Dead played five-hour sets in the 1970s and Bruce Springsteenas live epics are legendary (the longest, in Helsinki in 2012, lasted four hours and six minutes). The Bossas current tour a arriving in the UK later this year a is averaging just under three hours. But newer artists have also shifted towards longer shows to showcase increasingly large back catalogues. Swiftas 44-song Eras setlist culls from 10 albums a 17 years of music. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizardas 23 long-players since 2010 provide a labyrinthine songbook that canat be represented in a gig of even 120 minutes.

Created anonymously by the famed pop artist, these garment prints might have never come to light a were it not for a pair of sleuthing art collectors a|

In June 2019, a shabby but otherwise unremarkable parcel arrived at the London home of Geoffrey Rayner and Richard Chamberlain. The collectors of 20th-century design had waited months for the package a so long, in fact, that they had almost given up hope of ever receiving the silk dress inside.

The pairas mission to locate the garment had begun almost a decade before, in the depths of the V&A Museumas library, where a 60-year-old copy of Glamour magazine alerted them to the designas existence. In the small print of a four-page article, an image of a dress in the same, distinctive print was credited simply: aBright Butterflies, designed by Andy Warhola.

Cronenberg has the 1% in his sights in this unnerving satire about wealthy tourists who get more than they bargained for in a luxury resort

Brandon Cronenbergas new film serves up another slice of that luxury fear-porn that weave had on TVas The White Lotus and Succession, or Triangle of Sadness in the movies. Here, the trappings and appurtenances of the leisured super-rich might turn out to be just the design features of a prison. Infinity Pool is set in a super-exclusive vacation resort, a razor-wired compound of pampering on an otherwise poverty-stricken fictional island a but the place turns out to have Hotel California-style rules about the respective times available for checking out and leaving.

Infinity Pool is part body horror, part folk horror, with twisty hints of JG Ballard and Ian McEwan; it also features a tremendous turn from Mia Goth, who is currently ruling our cinema screens elsewhere in Ti Westas shocker Pearl. There are some intriguingly nasty ideas, along with nice performances from Goth and from her male lead, Alexander SkarsgAY=rd. But after a great opening, there are some shark-jumping moments in the second and third acts, and the doppelganger idea is a bit tired. Getting the same actor to play the two parts is really something that should be confined to film studentsa graduation projects or TikTok videos.

A new collaboration between 2K Games and Lego takes the form of an open-world racing game with buildable, breakable cars

Classic video games never really die. While theyare still remembered by designers and producers, their influence lives on and they can crop up in the most unexpected places. 2K Games has announced a new agreement with Lego, which will begin with Lego 2K Drive, an open-world racing game created by veteran studio Visual Concepts. It combines the explorable world and discoverable challenges of Forza Horizon with the fun handling, weapons and power-ups of Mario Kart a but its origins lie in a completely different set of car games.

Executive producer Mark Pierce started his games career at Atari in the late 1980s, working on the companyas classic racers RoadBlasters, Road Riot and San Francisco Rush, and was around while another team was crafting the legendary 3D racing sim Hard Drivina. aI was so fortunate because a lot of the original Atari guys were still there,a he recalls. aDavid Sheppard, who was the second software engineer hired and Peter Takaichias group who did all the mechanical design. I knew Jed Margolin, one of the guys who invented force feedback steering. It was incredible, the culture was just so strong, so creative a| A lot of us at Visual Concepts South have a heritage in making arcade racing games. We really wanted to make an arcade-style game that would be easy to learn, but hard to master.a

Whether itas the smell, the texture or the emotional associations, something has kept our guinea pigs away from everyday dishes such as hard-boiled eggs and shepherdas pie. How traumatic will those first mouthfuls be?

Itas not because they look phallic, OK? There is nothing Freudian or weird about the fact that I have spent my life recoiling at the sight of a banana. My banana aversion has nothing to do with me being gay. I like cucumbers! I like courgettes! I have no problem with phallic produce.

aIt took me a few days to work up the couragea a| Arwa with the dreaded fruit. Photograph: courtesy of Arwa Mahdawi

It can be difficult to realise when to give up hope in a relationship, but at a certain point you might have to, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith

Iam a little over 50 and have been in a long-term asituationshipa with a man a little older than I am. Mostly itas fine, and useful on a practical level, but I often find myself confused and hurt over emotional matters and not being included in his life outside of his house.

A recent birthday outing, which I was not invited to, has brought into focus how I am not his partner. He is old enough to be of a different generation to me and seems unable to discuss feelings, commitment or anything of that nature. When I try to say what I feel and need, this is met with silence, a change of subject or if I push, anger.

While these drugs do carry a greater breast cancer risk, those chances are very small for people under 40

Any type of hormonal contraceptive may increase the risk of breast cancer, research from the University of Oxford has suggested.

Although experts have stressed that this should not discourage people from taking the pill, the findings have prompted questions. How concerned should people be?

My wife and I had young kids, and we would have had to consume our body weight in Red Bull to stay awake. I still wish we had

It all started with an email from my friend Matt: aPrince is playing a secret gig at Koko in Camden. Tickets on sale at 10am.a Attending a secret gig had always been top of my bucket list. Iad come close once, when I turned up late to a mid-90s club night to discover that Philly rap legends the Roots had just finished playing an impromptu set. I was gutted. So when I got Mattas email, I knew what I had to do: get tickets for my wife and me, book a train to London from Birmingham, find a hotel, and wrangle a grandparent to look after our two kids, who were then four and seven months old. With that sorted, we could do a leisurely hop down to London and have a power nap in our hotel, before heading off to see Prince and party like it was a| well a| 2007.

That was the plan.

Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, plus a centenary celebration poem written by AI. How will you fare?

Today is the 100th edition of the Guardian Thursday quiz, and to honour this great event we asked ChatGPT to write a celebratory centenary poem about it. Here it is.

On Thursdayas eve, a challenge begins,
A quiz thatas tricky, full of twists and grins,
From politics to culture, and all in between,
The Guardianas quiz, a true mental scene.

With a love for the game, and a mind thatas keen,
Weall tackle the quiz, like a true trivia machine,
And as we finish, with a sigh of relief,
Weall feel accomplished, and filled with belief.

Drag story hours face protests and threats of violence amid push to erode LGBTQ rights in state legislatures across the US

In a sea of rainbow umbrellas, colorful hairstyles and even brighter costumes, Allison Towle loosely gripped on to her five-year-old daughteras hand.

It was bright and cold in New Yorkas West Village, and the two were on their way out from a Drag Storytelling Hour.

Regulators plan to put an end to businesses atrickinga customers into paying for services they no longer want

It is one of the ires of the digital age: signing up for a new subscription can be done in a few clicks, but cancelling it later is often difficult and can sometimes feel almost impossible.

Now the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is trying to change that for customers in a new proposal that would require companies with customers on recurring payment programs to offer easy online cancellation.

Body found after shooting occurred at East high school in Denver, wounding two administrators

A body found in the Colorado woods near an abandoned car was that of a 17-year-old student accused of wounding two administrators in a shooting at his Denver high school on Wednesday, a coroneras office said.

The Park county sheriff, Tom McGraw, said the body was discovered on Wednesday not far from the studentas car in a remote mountain area about 50 miles south-west of Denver, near the small town of Bailey. The town had been ordered to shelter in place while officers from agencies including the FBI combed the forest.

Hosting of Out and Equal Workplace summit is seen as response to governoras fight against LGBTQ+ rights in Florida

Disney is pushing back against Floridaas rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantisas crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by hosting a major LGBTQ+ conference.

The Out & Equal Workplace summit has touted itself as the alargest LGBTQ+ conference in the worlda and draws more than 5,000 attendees annually. For the next two years, the Out & Equal non-profit which focuses on LGBTQ+ workplace equality will be held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the Miami Herald reports.

Kristina Karamo says she will not be aintimidateda into withdrawing tweet despite outcry across political spectrum

The chair of the Michigan Republican party refused to withdraw a comparison of proposed gun control laws to the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany, despite outcry across the political spectrum.

Kristina Karamo, a far-right election denier who took charge of the Michigan GOP in February, said she would not be aintimidated or bullieda for equating state efforts to introduce safe gun storage regulations and universal background checks to actions by the Nazi regime which murdered approximately 6 million Jewish people and hundreds of thousands from other groups.

The Associated Press contributed reporting